Arjun Mohan wins Kerala State 2016
"The State Championship is something that every serious chess player has played once in his career", says Arjun Mohan who won the 54th Kerala State tournament held in the last week of May in Kannur. Arjun,who started the tournament as the second seed, won the event by a full poiny scoring 8.0/9. In this article he shares with us his favourite game from the event against the brother of the Indian Tal!
The State Senior Championship is something that everyone has played at least once in their chess career. It is surely a big stage for any chess player to prove thier ability. The 54th Kerala State Championships were held from the 25th to the 29th of May 2016 at the Christ College, Thalaserry, Kannur. It was organized by Chanakya Chess Academy ansd Sporting Youth Library of Thalaserry. It was a nine round swiss event with the time control of one hour thirty minutes plus thirty second increment per move for the entire game.
Starting as the second seed, with a rating of 2121, for me the tournament was a great opportunity to express myself and to meet up with my good old friends. There was a mixture of experienced and young players participating. It is always great to play tournaments with the legends like MB Muralidharan and OT Anilkumar participating. Despite the enormous pressure, I managed to play a few interesting games and had some tough fights as well. Thankfully l managed to score 8.0/9 and became the proud champion! I think my best game from the event was against Lakshmi Narayanan, who is the elder brother of Indian Tal, IM Ratnakaran. K! This was the penultimate round and I was playing with half point lead and a victory could ensure me the title. Therefore I opted to play the solid King's Indian Attack.
[Site "?"]
[Date "2016.05.29"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Arjun K"]
[Black "Lakshmi Narayanan"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A05"]
[WhiteElo "2120"]
[BlackElo "1977"]
[PlyCount "87"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[SourceDate "2016.02.08"]
3. Bg2 Bg7 4. d3 d6 5. O-O e5 6. e4 O-O 7. c3 Nc6 8. Nh4 Nh5 {Diagram [#]} 9.
Nf5 $1 {Making the game complicated. Here I believe Black should respond with
some accuracy or he will run into a slightly bad position.} Bxf5 $6 (9... Nf4
$5 {Going for it! This is tricky and it gives Black decent chances to hold the
game after some forced sequence.} 10. Bxf4 (10. Nxg7 Nxg2 11. Bh6 $1 Bh3 $1 {
symmetry at its best!} 12. Kh1 $1 {Eyeing against the fact that the knight on g2 is
trapped.} Kh8 $1 {You play, I play!} 13. Rg1 Rg8 14. Rxg2 Bxg2+ 15. Kxg2 Rxg7
16. Bxg7+ Kxg7 $11) 10... Bxf5 11. exf5 exf4 12. Nd2 Bh6 13. fxg6 hxg6 14. Re1
Qd7 $11) 10. exf5 Rb8 11. f4 $5 Nf6 (11... exf4 12. g4 $1 Nf6 13. g5 Nh5 14. f6
Bh8 15. Bxf4 Nxf4 16. Rxf4 {I believe White is clearly better here} h6 17. h4
$16) 12. fxg6 fxg6 13. f5 $1 {Weakening the white squares around black king}
Ne7 14. fxg6 Nxg6 15. Bg5 c6 16. Kh1 Qb6 17. Qe2 Nd5 18. Na3 Rxf1+ 19. Rxf1 Rf8
20. Nc4 Qc7 21. Rxf8+ Bxf8 22. Ne3 Nxe3 23. Bxe3 d5 {Diagram [#] A dynamic
postion that requires an effective plan from White to realise his advantage.
Here I found a powerful plan to play against my opponents only weakness, i.e, the
king} 24. h4 $1 Bd6 25. h5 Nf8 26. Qg4+ Kh8 (26... Qg7 27. Qxg7+ Kxg7
28. Bxa7 $18) 27. Qf5 a5 28. Qf6+ Kg8 {Diagram [#]} 29. Bh3 $1 $16 Qe7 (29...
Be7 30. Be6+ Nxe6 31. Qxe6+ Kh8 32. Bh6 Qd6 33. Qc8+ Qd8 34. Qxb7 Qe8 35. Kg2
$18) 30. Qxe7 Bxe7 31. Bc8 $18 {It's now just a matter of time for the double
bishops to wrap up the game} c5 32. Bxb7 d4 33. Bd2 Bd8 34. cxd4 exd4 35. Bc8
Kf7 36. Bf5 a4 37. a3 h6 38. Kg2 Kg7 39. Kf3 Bc7 40. g4 Bd8 41. Ke4 Bh4 42. Bf4
Nh7 43. Bxh7 Kxh7 44. Bd6 {After this game I had a healthy one point lead and I
drew the last game to secure the championship.} 1-0
Final Ranking after 9 Rounds
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Club/City | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
| 1 | 2 | Arjun K | IND | 2120 | KKD | 8,0 | 0,0 | 7,0 | 52,0 | |
| 2 | 21 | Joy Antony | IND | 1869 | EKM | 7,0 | 0,0 | 6,0 | 50,0 | |
| 3 | 7 | Lakshimi Narayanan | IND | 1977 | KKD | 7,0 | 0,0 | 6,0 | 49,0 | |
| 4 | 11 | Chandar Raju | IND | 1958 | EKM | 7,0 | 0,0 | 6,0 | 45,5 | |
| 5 | 19 | Jagadeesh A.K. | IND | 1878 | KKD | 7,0 | 0,0 | 6,0 | 41,5 | |
| 6 | 25 | Madhusoodanan K.R. | IND | 1818 | KKD | 7,0 | 0,0 | 5,0 | 49,5 | |
| 7 | 15 | Raju O A | IND | 1908 | TCR | 7,0 | 0,0 | 5,0 | 49,5 | |
| 8 | 17 | Suresh P K | IND | 1895 | TCR | 7,0 | 0,0 | 5,0 | 48,0 | |
| 9 | 14 | Marthandan K U | IND | 1909 | EKM | 6,5 | 0,0 | 6,0 | 49,0 | |
| 10 | 28 | Unas K.A. | IND | 1807 | EKM | 6,5 | 0,0 | 6,0 | 46,5 |
About the Author
Arjun Mohan is a strong chess player from Kerela. These are some of his best achievements:
- He has won board prize on board 4 at the National team chess Bhubaneswar 2016 scoring 7 out of 7.
- Three Fide open titles at 7th KCA Fide Rating Tournament (below 2200) Kottayam 2014, Entire India Fide Rating Tournament (below 2200) Vadodara 2014 and Sri B S Yeddyurappa FIDE rating tournament (below 2000)
- 2011 Kerala State Senior captain in National teams
- Two State Title u-17 & u-25